*Sigh* I could just stop there, really. It has been "one of those days." My poor Madeleine woke this morning crying and sounding like she had a bunch of golf balls stuck in her throat. I knew immediately that she had caught strep and made an early morning Dr.'s appointment. After loading the other kids into the van, I carried a pajama-clad Maddie to the car. That is when I wrenched my back. My back has been a chronic nuisance and the timing for this couldn't be worse.
After dropping off the kids at school, Maddie quickly began to feel worse, and the poor kid was seriously turning gray. I hobbled her into the Dr.'s office, to the elevator and we settled in for what was supposed to be the first appointment of the day. Almost 40 minutes later, our Dr. finally got into the office. Thankfully the nurse had already given us the strep test and it was confirmed.....a third bottle of pink bubblegum medicine would be on our refrigerator shelf. Getting out of the chair in the exam room proved to be extremely difficult for me and I knew that I was in trouble. My back was starting to Charlie-horse and I'd need attention ASAP. One problem, I had a very sick little girl who needed attention more than I did. Maddie just wanted to lie down so I dropped her off in the care of my brother-in-law and ran to the pharmacy.
A trip to the pharmacy is always an interesting adventure, don't you think? I was third in line to drop off the prescription. The first customer spoke broken English. Apparently his broken English was a different dialect of broken English than the pharmacy tech and it took a loooong time to determine that his birthday was indeed October, 3rd 1958. I understood the poor man immediately and wanted to scream, "10/3/58!!!!!!",but I decided to breath and pray. After him, there was a woman who had lot of prescriptions to fill. I don't think she had insurance, so the poor thing had to ask how much each would cost, and then if there was an option of only filling half. That took equally as long as Mr. October. Now it was my turn....except that I saw behind me an elderly lady waiting about as long as I had. She was leaning against a display of flu-prevention products for support and I felt a tug on my conscience to let her go in front of me. She was absolutely floored, but I think, quite grateful. Finally, it was my turn, and when I went to walk forward, my back said, "uh-uh." I almost fell over the pharmacy counter. Maybe it was an act of God, because the pharmacist took one look at my pained face and filled my prescription immediately. I ran into a dear friend who's daughter goes to school with mine, and her smiling face was a reassurance that I am never alone.
At this point, I couldn't wait to get the medication to Maddie and I also knew that I needed to go to the chiropractor if I expected to walk upright, because at the moment I was walking at a 90 degree angle. I quickly dispensed the medication and scooped Maddie up to run to the chiropractor. I grabbed a plastic bag on the way out as Maddie was looking a bit green. One quick trip to the chiropractor (with some relief) later and we were back on the road heading home. Turns out it was a good thing that I grabbed that plastic bag. There are few things that are as awful as having a child get sick in your vehicle. The smell is one thing. The utter helplessness you feel as a parent watching it happen in your rear view mirror because you are not in a position to pull over is another entirely. All I could think of was the fact that the antibiotics couldn't work if they didn't stay in her. Bag of vomit in one hand, Maddie held on my aching-hip by the other, we were finally home. Maddie's condition got worse and it became apparent that she needed further intervention. The poor thing was brought back to the Dr.'s and received an extremely painful antibiotic shot. I think they filled that syringe with a little bit 'o miracle. What a difference almost immediately!
So here are the silver linings (yes, there were more than one today!). My kids actually loved dinner today (boneless spare ribs, assorted veggies and egg noodles)! Luke, who eats most every meal with chop sticks asked me if he could be Chinese when he grows up, to which I replied, "Of course, honey, you can be whatever you want when you grow up." Most importantly, my Madeleine is sitting up eating pudding, and enjoying watching "Night at the Museum 2" with all of her siblings. Can anyone say, "Fire Powa!"
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